All About Vietnam

Part 3: Effective test for Vietnamese virtues

July 6, 2013

PANO – A driver of Movitel had tried to open his eyes as wide as to avoid falling asleep while holding firmly the steering wheel and controlling the accelerator pedal. Our car pierced the darkness on a deserted road with flooded fields along either side. With experiences of working in during storms and floods hitting in Vietnam, I sill felt being very fragile, tiny and lonely in the impressive strength of the African nature.

We arrived at the HQs of Movitel’s branch in Gaza province when all employees were engaged in rescuing the flooded Base Transmission Stations (BTS).

Head of the Branch’s Planning Department Mr. Nguyen Trung Phuong told us that the whole province had been struggling with the flood which had claimed the lives of dozens of local residents and paralyzed 41 BTSs and threatened 50 others. Floodwater had isolated 5 out of 11 districts in the province and they had to stay here as no boats could be found.

The love with Vietnam of a Mozambican man

Phuong further said Movitel’s employees had to struggle with the flood for 6 days and nights and they only wished to have a good sleep immediately finishing their work. After briefing us with the critical situation, Phuong immediately hurried to an online conference. In fact not only Gaza but other provinces in Mozambique also suffered from the severe flood damage and all of the participants in the online meeting were exhausted due to of lack of food and sleep.

Meanwhile, local people’s convoys with all sorts of belongings were evacuating to safe areas before the flood arrival as they had been informed that the flood would hit the province very soon. However, in the mean time, Movitel’s offices and shops were till operating as usual.

I got into a shop ran by Mr. Nguyen Van Quyet in Gaza at 8:00pm while he was calmly typing a report without a shirt on. Asked why he did not evacuate, Quyet said that he had to stay there to watch the shop as he had been used to similar situation before and all computers and facilities had been chocked up already.

Quyet is only Vietnamese of the shop while others are local employees. According to Movitel’s principle, each district-level office has only one Vietnamese staff while others are locals and Quyet is the only Vietnamese to undertake the heavy tasks in the shop. It is necessary to remind you that each district in Mozambique is as large as a province in Vietnam.

We left Quyet’s shop and kept driving in the dark along the road for hundreds of km crossing the flooded field that was still dry in the morning. We could see neither houses nor people on the two sides of the road. Suddenly, the car leaped forward to a high slope. At the time, the driver could sigh with relief and said that they were blessed to get rid of the flood already.

We found so many cars taking refuge at a filling station, and met a 6-member support team of Movitel, led by the company’s Vice CEO Huynh Quang Nghia. After exchanging some courtesies, they got on a pickup truck to head the dreadful road that we had just left and the driver predicted by that time the road might be flooded.

The flood caused a heavy damage to Mozambique’s economy, especially in Gaza province where 91 people were killed, 175,000 others must be evacuated and many houses and public facilities were destroyed. We were really lucky to escape from the road – the artery Gaza and neighboring provinces before it was flooded.

Despite all these, thanks for great efforts of Movitel’s officials and employees, cell phone waves still remained strong. A group of 20 Vietnamese experts and technicians were immediately deployed from Vietnam to ‘battlefields’ to fight the flood in Mozambique.

After the flood, on the first days of April 2013, Movitel’s employees donated US$ 200,000 to help local people in Gaza stabilize their lives.

Noble characters to overcome difficulties

‘Decoding’ the great efforts to develop business of Viettel in foreign markets, its CEO Lieutenant-General Hoang Anh Xuan said that: “It comes from strength of Viettel’s staff.”

“Investing abroad, international telecom companies used to bring along their own staff with well-paid salary and luxurious living conditions while Vietnamese experts were ready to stand hardships to work overseas with high sense of responsibility”, added General Xuan.

Living abroad, Vietnamese technicians have to cook by themselves

Visiting the house where about 40 Vietnamese technicians of Movitel in the capital city of Maputo, I could understand better what the Viettel’s CEO said.

The 4-storey building is located on an area of 200sq.m. 7 female Vietnamese live in a separate room while male technicians share a big hall, like the student life. For this big collective, they have hired local cooks but Vietnamese employees in Movitel’s district-level branches have to cook themselves.

Learning a foreign language is a common challenge for Vietnamese people overseas. Viettel’s employees had their own ways to fix the language gap. Head of the Department of Planning and Administration of Movitel Ho Van Hao shared that he arrived in Mozambique 2 years ago with only few English words and no Portuguese at all but at present, he could communicate fluently in both English and Portuguese.

Hao said the most important thing was to make local partners understand what he said and vise verse.

In order to narrow the language gap, Vietnamese employees also teach local ones Vietnamese. For example, when they do not know a terminology, they combined Vietnamese and English in a sentence. It seems ridiculous but quite effective for them to fulfill their tasks.

As a result, Viettel has required its employees to improve their own strength to fill the language gap to satisfy its international market penetration goal. The group regularly hosted serious tests to check its staff’s command of foreign language despite their demanding work.

“Vietnamese often fear changes and many wanted to leave Viettel for fear of being sent to work overseas”, said Major-General Duong Van Tinh, Vice CEO of Viettel. The company had to encourage the staff to take challenges and most of Viettel’s employees working abroad are young and many of them were married ones. They were required to work abroad for 3 years and Viettel had see to every details to ensure the adequate life for their staff abroad, added General Tinh.

Running business abroad is to swim at high sea. The trend for overseas investment is considered an active way to enter the global playground. Consequently, Vietnamese should prove their virtues to stand firm on their feet in the severe economic environment. Major-General Nguyen Manh Hung, Vice CEO of Viettel said that at home, the military-run telecom group only competes with 7 rivals. However, when it runs business abroad, Viettel has to take on other 10,000 international telecom companies. Thus, Viettel must effectively and comprehensively run business in foreign markets to ensure its investment a success.

Working abroad, Viettel has to cope with strong opponents. However, its employees will horn their professionalism and promote their competitiveness. It has nothing to hide the target to become a global-scale telecom group by making up concrete and effective steps. Realities have proved that Viettel’s efforts have been paid off and its employees, who are working days and nights in foreign markets, have been contributing to fostering the national construction cause and to increasing the Vietnamese people’s position in the international arena.

According to Hoang Son, The Director of Viettel Telecom’s, the company will initially provide an international roaming service to 21 countries and territories worldwide, such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, Canada, the US, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The company’s pre-paid subscribers, who have a balance of at least 200,000 VND, can register for the service by sending the message “CVQT” to 138. Established in 2001, the military-run telecoms company is the first Vietnamese telecoms company to supply services overseas. The firm has installed more than 17,000 base transmission stations (BTS) nationwide to serve around 36 million users. It is estimated that the number of Viettel subscribers will exceed 40 million by the end of this year.... [read more]

Tong Viet Trung, Deputy General Director of Viettel, said that the capital will be spent on building mobile network infrastructure and improving the fixed line network in Haiti Work on the mobile network infrastructure is scheduled to start in October with over 1,000 base transmission stations to be built so that mobile phone services can be launched in the first quarter of 2011. According to Viettel, the Haitian telecom market is promising because there are currently only two mobile telecom providers in this country. Earlier, Viettel signed a deal to buy 60 percent of shares of Telecom Company in Haiti worth US$99 million. Under this agreement, Viettel will be allowed to provide services in wireless fixed telephone, international sea optical cables, WiMAX wireless bandwidth and mobile phone. Besides Laos, Cambodia and Haiti, Viettel is expanding investment in many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on mobile telecom and Internet broadband services which are Viettel’s strength. In another development, Metfone, the Cambodia-based affiliate of the military-run Viettel Corporation, has been honoured as the most promising service provider of the year by the international business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. The prize, included in the Frost & Sullivan Asia -Pacific ICT Award, reflects the international recognisation of Viettel’s development in the newly emerging market.... [read more]

Viettel will invest in the construction of network infrastructure as well as an improved fixed-line network in Haiti, Trung said, with construction to begin in October on over 1,000 base transmission stations and services to be launched as early as the first quarter of next year. The Haitian telecommunications market is promising because there were currently only two mobile service providers in the country and Viettel hopes to quickly affirm its position in such a high-potential market, Trung said. Earlier, Viettel signed a US$99 million deal to buy a 60-percent stake in Haiti’s state-owned Teleco that enabled Viettel to provide wireless and mobile phone services and international undersea optical cables. In addition to operations in Laos and Cambodia, Viettel is expanding investment in a number of other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.... [read more]

Viettel Telecom under military-run Viettel Group gas begun offering free 4G mobile service on a trial basis to customers in some parts of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau for one week. The trial was launched after Viettel Telecom installed about 200 base transmission stations covering the entire residential area of ​​Vung Tau City, Ba Ria City and Long Dien District. 4G is short for the fourth-generation of wireless communication technology that allows transmission of data at the maximum speed in ideal conditions of up to 1-1.5GB per second, many times higher than what is offered by the current 3G technology. The week-long pilot program followed a permit granted to the telecom firm by the Ministry of Information and Communications one month earlier. The average speed of the 4G service in Vung Tau City on December 12 was at 40-80Mb per second, seven times higher than the average speed of the 3G technology. But at some locations, the average speed could reach up to 230Mb per second. The ideal downloading and uploading speed in theory of the advanced mobile technology 4G LTE-A is around 300Mb per second and 150Mb per second, respectively. During the trial week, which will end on December 18, Viettel will offer free 4G SIM cards at four outlets and two stores in supermarkets in the province. About 10,000 free Viettel 4G SIM cards have already been prepared for this trial and users can experience such utility-based services as 4G HD movies, music, and multi-screen TV…... [read more]

Viettel Telecom under military-run Viettel Group on Saturday began offering free 4G mobile service on a trial basis to customers in some parts of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau for one week. The trial was launched after Viettel Telecom installed about 200 base transmission stations covering the entire residential area of ​​Vung Tau City, Ba Ria City and Long Dien District. 4G is short for the fourth-generation of wireless communication technology that allows transmission of data at the maximum speed in ideal conditions of up to 1-1.5GB per second, many times higher than what is offered by the current 3G technology. The week-long pilot program followed a permit granted to the telecom firm by the Ministry of Information and Communications one month earlier. The average speed of the 4G service in Vung Tau City on Saturday was at 40-80Mb per second, seven times higher than the average speed of the 3G technology. But at some locations, the average speed could reach up to 230Mb per second. The ideal downloading and uploading speed in theory of the advanced mobile technology 4G LTE-A is around 300Mb per second and 150Mb per second, respectively. During the trial week, which will end on December 18, Viettel will offer free 4G SIM cards at four outlets and two stores in supermarkets in the province. About 10,000 free Viettel 4G SIM cards have already been prepared for this trial and users can experience such utility-based services as 4G HD movies, music, and multi-screen TV…... [read more]

HA NOI (VNS)- The Government wants internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile phone operators in Viet Nam to ensure a minimum 90 per cent success rate and 10-second delay for 3G internet service. The new regulation from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), contained in a circular entitled "The National technical specification requirement for mobile internet services on IMT-2000 standard," takes effect on March 1, 2015. MT-2000 is the term which the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is using for a set of globally harmonised standards for third generation (3G) mobile telecommunication services and equipment. MIC officials said the quality of 3G internet access in Viet Nam would be tested randomly under varying conditions such as outdoor, indoor and in-motion, and would be conducted at various times of the day. The officials added that the regulation would force ISPs and mobile operators to enhance the quality of third generation network (3G) and enable mobile phone subscribers to supervise the service quality provided by operators. Mobile subscribers can report the quality of services to the MIC. Last month, three of the largest carriers in Viet Nam simultaneously raised their 3G speed to 42 Mbps, or six times faster than their previous speed, to meet increasing demands for data. The increase was put in place after the mobile giants successfully adopted the DC-HSDPA protocol for third generation mobile telecommunications technology. MobiFone said it has upgraded to 1,000 BTSs (Base Transmission Stations), which was supporting 3G at speeds of 42 Mbps. Viettel said…... [read more]

HA NOI (VNS) - Three of the largest carriers in Viet Nam have simultaneously raised the 3G (Third Generation Network) speeds to 42 Mbps, six times faster than existing speeds in order to meet increasing demands for data. MobiFone said it has upgraded 1,000 BTSs (Base Transmission Stations) which support 3G at speeds of 42 Mbps in Ha Noi, HCM City and Dong Nai, bringing the total number of BTSs offering 42 Mbps speed to 2,000 nation-wide. Further, the download speed of 42Mbps could enable subscribers to watch HD video clips on mobile phones with 3G connections, the company said. The speed increase was put in place after the mobile giant successfully adopted the DC- HSDPA protocol for its third generation of mobile telecommunications technology. Meanwhile, Viettel said it had installed BTSs with higher 3G speed in 13 province and cities across the country. The country's largest mobile carrier, in terms of the number of subscribers, said it would cover the 3G with a 42Mbps speed throughout the country in 2015. Vinaphone, a subsidiary of Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said it would finish upgrading all of its 13,000 BTSs nation-wide to 42Mbps next year. Doan Xuan Hop, deputy head of VinaPhone's sales office, said the network would continue developing wider bandwidths and high speed, as well as offer new features for users, especially payment services via mobile phones. Vinaphone is also working on a project to increase 3G download speeds to 84Mbps in the future. The DC-HSDPA…... [read more]

The major mobile network operators in Vietnam have pledged uninterrupted connections during the Lunar New Year festival, after increasing their network capacities to handle the anticipated surge in texts and calls. However, they warned mobile users of possible congestion in some locations that witness huge gatherings of people during New Year's Eve, such as firework display locations. Viettel, the country's largest mobile carrier in terms of number of subscribers, said its mobile users are unlikely to face congestion issues, as a large number of 2G network users had shifted to the 3G network, reducing the overload on the 2G network. "In fact, over the past two years, the demand for sending mobile texts during the Lunar New Year has reduced following a boom in 3G usage, which prompted us to upgrade our 3G capacity," said the head of Viettel's network department, Tao Duc Thang. He said the company has focused on upgrading its transmission capacity by installing more BTSs (base transmission stations) in locations where large crowds are expected to congregate to celebrate the New Year. "We will also use mobile BTSs installed in cars during New Year's eve," Thang added. The carrier said that its network allows download and upload speeds of up to 21.6 and 5.76 megabits per second, respectively, which will reduce the likelihood of congestion. MobiFone's deputy general director Nguyen Dang Nguyen said this year, more people will use high-speed data services to share their photos and videos of New Year celebrations, thanks to the popularity…... [read more]

The major mobile network operators in Vietnam have pledged uninterrupted connections during the Lunar New Year festival, after increasing their network capacities to handle the anticipated surge in texts and calls. However, they warned mobile users of possible congestion in some locations that witness huge gatherings of people during New Year's Eve, such as firework display locations. Viettel, the country's largest mobile carrier in terms of number of subscribers, said its mobile users are unlikely to face congestion issues, as a large number of 2G network users had shifted to the 3G network, reducing the overload on the 2G network. "In fact, over the past two years, the demand for sending mobile texts during the Lunar New Year has reduced following a boom in 3G usage, which prompted us to upgrade our 3G capacity," said the head of Viettel's network department, Tao Duc Thang. He said the company has focused on upgrading its transmission capacity by installing more BTSs (base transmission stations) in locations where large crowds are expected to congregate to celebrate the New Year. "We will also use mobile BTSs installed in cars during New Year's eve," Thang added. The carrier said that its network allows download and upload speeds of up to 21.6 and 5.76 megabits per second, respectively, which will reduce the likelihood of congestion. MobiFone's deputy general director Nguyen Dang Nguyen said this year, more people will use high-speed data services to share their photos and videos of New Year celebrations, thanks to the popularity…... [read more]

HA NOI (VNS) — The major mobile network operators in Viet Nam have pledged uninterrupted connections during the Lunar New Year, after increasing their network capacities to handle the anticipated surge in texts and calls. However, they warned mobile users of possible congestion in some locations that witness huge gatherings of people during New Year's Eve, such as firework display locations. Viettel, the country's largest mobile carrier in terms of number of subscribers, said its mobile users are unlikely to face congestion issues, as a large number of 2G network users had shifted to the 3G network, reducing the overload on the 2G network. "In fact, over the past two years, the demand for sending mobile texts during the Lunar New Year has reduced following a boom in 3G usage, which prompted us to upgrade our 3G capacity," said the head of Viettel's network department, Tao Duc Thang. He said the company has focused on upgrading its transmission capacity by installing more BTSs (base transmission stations) in locations where large crowds are expected to congregate to celebrate the New Year. "We will also use mobile BTSs installed in cars during New Year's eve," Thang added. The carrier said that its network allows download and upload speeds of up to 21.6 and 5.76 megabits per second, respectively, which will reduce the likelihood of congestion. MobiFone's deputy general director Nguyen Dang Nguyen said this year, more people will use high-speed data services to share their photos and videos of New Year celebrations,…... [read more]